Why Russia is Hell...

A fire broke out in an office building in the Russian Pacific coast city of Vladivostok on Monday, killing nine people and injuring at least 15 others as trapped victims jumped from windows or plunged to their deaths trying to escape from the smoke and flames.Link to article

Russia IS a third world country and people just don't recognize it...
Russian safety is surely an oxymoron....

I thought that Russia was by definition a second world country despite any similarities to the attributes of third world countries.

I'm surprised this kind of thing doesn't happen more in the US. I encounter locked doors at public places all the time. Typically it is one half of double doors but sometimes it's a side entrance that the store owner just doesn't want to watch. In high school our principal use to chain and padlock doors to keep students from sneaking out. If there ever had been a fire, he would have been in prison.

In general, we have relative few fires in the first place. But when we do, you often find the same problem with locked or blocked fire exits.

Edit: Ok, apparently second world only applied to Russia when it was communist.

One thing about Russia is that there's so much hidden income that isn't reported to the authorities. Sure, you might hear that the average per-capita income is a few thousand dollars, but many people get paid "under the table," in cash. Most families aren't struggling on a few kopecks a day, but then again the living standards are nowhere close to that of Western Europe and North America. My neighborhood is filled with Russian immigrants, and they're not here for the scenery.

Russia's in rough shape, but I think there's noplace to go but up. It'll take decades, but the bear may roar again someday.

Twelve miners died after a coal mine explosion in West Virginia. The owner of the mine had been cited for 273 safety violations in the past four years. The Federal mine safety and health administration has had its budget cut and is short of inspectors. the number of safety citations and fines have decreased over the past four years. The current head of the mine safety and health administration was (I believe) at one time a lawyer or exec for the mining industry (mine owners).

I agree that Russia is in a bad state. They went down a road of excess miltarism, cronyism, corruption, and unwise war while Communist. The new "free" Russia had a lot of institutional strikes against it when the USSR broke up.

But a newspaper in Russia could run much the same article about the U.S., using the mine deaths as a case in point.

TOMSK, Russia, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Record low temperatures were felt in western Siberia over the weekend, with temperatures in the Tomsk region reported at minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit and lower.

Originally posted by Wulf9

Twelve miners died after a coal mine explosion in West Virginia. The owner of the mine had been cited for 273 safety violations in the past four years. The Federal mine safety and health administration has had its budget cut and is short of inspectors. the number of safety citations and fines have decreased over the past four years. The current head of the mine safety and health administration was (I believe) at one time a lawyer or exec for the mining industry (mine owners).

I thought that the mine was under new ownership as of the end of last year and everyone said that safety was much better with this new company. (I could be wrong though)

If you want different results in your life, you need to do different things than you have done in the past. Change is that simple.

I thought that the mine was under new ownership as of the end of last year and everyone said that safety was much better with this new company. (I could be wrong though)

You are right. Your talking points trump my talking points (this time but not very often). I couldn't find any info on the safety record of the new company and whether they continued the poor record of their predecessors. The new company ICG took over in October 2005.

The record of Bush appointees and reduced enforcement is still an issue and a possible contributing factor. The current head of MHSA is a former mine company manager....

Dave D. Lauriski is the United States Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health, the head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. He was appointed by President George W. Bush in the beginning of his term.
Before he joined government, Lauriski ran his own consulting firm in Price, Utah. He was previously General Manager of Energy West Mining Company

Well...how many people can you find to run a mine safety agency who have not had any real experience in the mine industry. The big questions are: Are there still deep personal (and/or financial) links and what is the "culture" of the Agency: enforce the law or slash and burn the regs?

Your talking points trump my talking points (this time but not very often).

Ooh! A Talking Points Smack Down. That would be a great thread in and of itself (not).